Working our way through Christmas meant working our way through most of the restaurants in the shire (as if roast dinners weren't enough).

One of our catch ups took place at The Tavern, which I've wanted to revisit since they brought back their old school menu. I started with clams & samphire in cider followed by Chicken, lemon, aioli and mash potato with marrow butter (sounds pretentious but definitely worth changing your potato side to this mashy goodness). The man had a burger which he wasn't that fussed with - I think Cheltenham has become the hub of good burgers and so they had a lot to compete with (more on this later...). We finished with a 'Sticky Toffee sandwich' because I'd seen it on Instagram far too much to resist (laters wedding diet).

Feeling fat yet? If you can handle another mouthful then I definitely recommend a visit to Holee Cow for the aforementioned burger. V.juicy but the sides stole the show. Mac & Cheese bites, sticky chicken wings and chunky choc milkshakes. This was just what I needed to recover from a gin-filled festive catchup, and a much better prospect than the queue/cost/lack of tables at Five Guys.

Top this off with cake in every flavour you can think of and you've got yourself one Santa belly. We took a trip to Stow to pick up our wedding rings and had a cake break at The Hive - where we had Rose & pistachio cake and Chocolate & avocado (wtf).

Now January is here I shall be shutting my gob/wallet and shaping up for the big day...